Mama Ruth is 111 yrs old - our trip to Oklahoma and Arkansas

The timing of the trip was a little poor, considering we were just in Chicago 2 weekends ago, then Minnesota 1 weekend ago. We just can't seem to stay home long enough to get packed!! We made the yearly trip to Little Rock, AR to celebrate (what I think will be) Mama Ruth's last birthday. I could be 100% wrong....but she really said she is weaker and thinks this is her last year. The trip taking both kids on the airplanes was actually better than I expected. We bought a ticket for each child, so we could take them both on the airplane and use their car seats. That was the best decision ever. Its so nice to have them buckled in (and safer too!) on the airplane so they could sleep. Our first flight was Thursday (Oct 2nd) from Waterloo to Minneapolis. It was loud and quick. Calvin was pretty fussy. He did NOT like me putting earplugs in his ears. He seemed to be calmed by the paci most of the first flight. The 2nd flight was from Minneapolis to Oklahoma City, where we made a point to stop overnight at Rachel's apartment and see whats going on with her. The 2nd flight went EXTREMELY well. Both kids fell asleep for the entirety of the 2 hours we were up in the air. That was SO nice. Rachel met us at baggage claim in her blue scrubs fresh from school. We got settled into the rental car (Chevy Tahoe w/ 3rd row seat) and Rachel guided us back to the school, gave us a tour, and then we went back to her apartment for a chicken parmesan dinner she cooked. Yum! Her friend (well, boyfriend, I guess) Paul hung out with us too. The kids slept in Rachel's room (Calvin in a pack and play borrowed from Justin, one of Rachel's ortho friends) and Violet in a sleeping bag (which she ended up sleeping ON TOP of the whole night, lol). They slept alright. That night Calvin decided to wake up at 5:15 am like a crazy happy man, and I managed to stay awake and let him crawl around to burn off some energy. He eventually got tired and fell asleep from 6:30-7:30 am so I could get a little more sleep. Rachel, Dave and I all camped out on Rachel's living room couch, air mattres, and used her mattress from her bed on the floor. So funny! Good thing nobody snores. We drove to Little Rock together on Friday the 3rd. We had plans to make it by 4 pm to watch Mama Ruth go up in a helicopter ride. We BARELY made it. We pulled into the parking lot at Parkway Village almost at the same time the chopper blades started spinning and lifted off the ground. Everybody was there, and we all enjoyed ice cream cones and ice cream cookie sandwiches. Violet loved seeing everybody and easily went to other people she was familiar with - Great Grandma Rowena and Great Grandpa Loren, for example. We ate ice cream and waited for the helicopter to land. We settled into our guest room at Parkway for the night and quickly changed clothes to get ready for dinner that night at some asian restaurant...dinsome thensome or whatever. I was SO tired from all the travel and the long drive. The kids were also tired, whiney and melting down. I barely remember the conversations I had that night ~ my eyes felt glazed over. We were so anxious to get the kids to bed, so we left as soon as we could. The next day (Saturday, Oct 4th) was the regular luncheon at the country club. We sat at a table with Ruth and Michael, Sara Lincoln, Rachel, Jay and Molly. Grandma Rowena tried to get Violet to sit over at the kids' table with all the other kids, but Violet was too scared and nervous, so she sat with us. She ate lots of chicken and fries ~ in fact, I think she lived off fried chicken that weekend. Every kid menu we ordered from ~ that was the only thing she would have eaten. Calvin was OK - he was happy with little bits of food here and there sitting in his high chair playing with a floating balloon tied to his high chair. The country club had a nice cake, but it wasn't the traditional carrot/spice cake as in previous years. I found that disappointing, lol! I was lookin' forward to that cake! We took the kids back to Patty and Jim's house so we could put them down for naps. Dave volunteered to stay at their house while I joined the rest of the family on a walk across the bridge over the Arkansas River. I drove the big Tahoe with Grandpa Loren, Rachel, Jay and Molly in it successfully downtown with almost no wrong turns (I screwed up in the parking lot, but oh well). Dinner that night was a continuation of just conversation, talking, and socializing at Patty and Jim's. Danny Deislinger had a big catfish fry organized, so we enjoyed eating lots of food that night too. Sunday morning was a little crazy, but it went pretty well. Great Grandma Ruth was SO excited that almost everyone joined her at church. The kids did alright. Calvin was happy being passed from person to person and didn't make too much of a fuss. Violet was happy sitting with daddy most of the time, eating random snacks from whatever she could find in the diaper bag. People were generally impressed with our kids' behavior and said they enjoyed her presence. That was nice to hear! I specifically remember being at the dinsome thensome restaurant on Friday night ~ I asked Violet to go get her flip flops and put them on her feet. She said "ok!" and ran off. Ashley Abraham said "oh wow! She'll actually go do it!?" as though she didn't expect Violet to obey as well as she did. Violet got a big kick out of going on the airplane. I know she didn't really "get it" that the airplane was going really fast and really high ~ but she liked knowing she was going on an airplane and that she got to ride in her car seat. She especially loves to do EVERYTHING herself...including climbing up into her seat by herself, and doing the buckles. Sometimes she can get the whole thing, sometimes the straps are a little too tight and she can't quite get it done. She was a bit of a challenge to get her to stay close to us as we walked through the airport going from place to place, but I usually could steer her to stay close to me by asking if she could help me push Calvin's stroller. She absolutely loves to help with that kind of stuff. Also, she would get VERY excited at the moving sidewalks in the airport terminals, being able to get on and off them by herself, and anticipating another moving sidewalk, one right after another. She squealed in delight when she would notice another one coming up! She always "helped" us by pushing the elevator buttons and the buttons for handicapped people so the doors would open automatically, almost everywhere we went. She was pretty social, randomly waving to people and saying "hi!" She is so cute, growing up so fast, and I am just amazed by her!